There were many high profile scorers in the NBA during the 1980s. Larry Bird, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Alex English are among the best of the decade. Another high scorer who toiled in relative anonymity is today's profile, Adrian Dantley of the Utah Jazz and Detroit Pistons.

Adrian Dantley was born February 28, 1956 in Washington, D.C. In the early 70s, he starred at DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, Maryland, where he played for Basketball Hall of Fame coach Morgan Wooten. He then attended the University of Notre Dame, where he would rank among the greatest basketball players in school history. In his three seasons there, he averaged 25.8 PPG and 9.8 RPG (his best year was 1974-75, with averages of 30.4 PPG and 10.2 RPG), was named an All-American in his final two years, won the National Player of the Year in 1976. He also played on the Notre Dame team that ended UCLA's legendary 88 game winning streak in 1973. Dantley then led the United States to a gold medal in the 1976 Olympics in Montreal before being drafted sixth overall in the 1976 NBA Draft by the Buffalo Braves.

As a Brave in 1976-77, Dantley won Rookie of the Year, averaging 20.3 PPG and 7.6 RPG. After the Braves finished 30-52 that year, however, Dantley was traded to the Indiana Pacers for Billy Knight; he is the only ROY in a major American sports league to be traded after winning the award. His tenure in Indiana lasted only 23 games before he was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers for James Edwards (a future teammate) and Earl Tatum. Dantley enjoyed a solid year and a half with the Lakers, averaging 17.3 PPG in his only full season there in 1978-79, before being traded yet again, this time to the Utah Jazz for Spencer Haywood. Finally, though, Dantley settled in with the Jazz and became a scoring force as the young team began climbing up the NBA ladder.

In his first season with Utah, Dantley was named to the Western Conference All-Star team for the first time with an average of 28 PPG (his other All-Star nods came in 1981-82 and 1984-86). In 1980-81, Dantley won his first scoring title with an average of 30.7 PPG. After a devestating knee injury occured during the 1982-83 season (causing him to miss 60 games), he returned with a vengence in 1983-84, as he won another scoring title with a 30.6 PPG average as the Jazz made their first postseason ever. By the 1985-86 season, however, Dantley and coach Frank Layden were not on the best of terms, and after the season, Dantley was traded to the Detroit Pistons for Kelly Tripucka and Kent Benson.

Dantley remained a solid scorer as the Pistons emerged as a force in the NBA in the late 80s. Dantley averaged better than 20 PPG in each of his two full seasons with the team, and helped the Pistons reach the NBA Finals in 1988, before he was traded yet again (at the All-Star break in 1989), this time to the Dallas Mavericks, for Mark Aguirre. It was believed by many that the deal was done because Aguirre and Isiah Thomas were childhood friends and that Thomas and Dantley didn't get along (Thomas denied the charges), but Dantley finished the season with an average of 19.2 PPG.

During the 1989-90 season, Dantley suffered another severe knee injury, causing him to miss the final 37 games of the season. Dallas released him, and he spent most of the 1990-91 season unsigned until the Milwaukee Bucks picked him up with 10 games to go in the season. Dantley played those game and the playoffs for the Bucks before being released again. He would finish his professional career in Itlay with Breeze Milan before retiring. He finished with 23,177 points (24.3 PPG career, 18th all-time entering the 2008-09 season) and 5,455 rebounds (5.7 RPG) and was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008.

Season-by-Season Statistical Review:
1976-77: 77 GP, 20.3 PPG, 7.6 RPG, 1.9 APG, 52.0 FG%, 81.8 FT%
1977-78: 79 GP, 21.5 PPG, 7.8 RPG, 3.2 APG, 51.2 FG%, 79.6 FT%
1978-79: 60 GP, 17.3 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 2.3 APG, 51.0 FG%, 85.4 FT%
1979-80: 68 GP, 28.0 PPG, 7.6 RPG, 2.8 APG, 57.6 FG%, 84.2 FT%
1980-81: 80 GP, 30.7 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 4.0 APG, 55.9 FG%, 80.6 FT%
1981-82: 81 GP, 81 GS, 30.3 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 4.0 APG, 57.0 FG%, 79.2 FT%
1982-83: 22 GP, 22 GS, 30.7 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 4.8 APG, 58.0 FG%, 84.7 FT%
1983-84: 79 GP, 79 GS, 30.6 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 3.9 APG, 55.8 FG%, 85.9 FT%
1984-85: 55 GP, 46 GS, 26.6 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 3.4 APG, 53.1 FG%, 80.4 FT%
1985-86: 76 GP, 75 GS, 29.8 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 3.5 APG, 56.3 FG%, 79.1 FT%
1986-87: 81 GP, 81 GS, 21.5 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 2.0 APG, 53.4 FG%, 81.2 FT%
1987-88: 69 GP, 50 GS, 20.0 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 2.5 APG, 51.4 FG%, 86.0 FT%
1988-89: 73 GP, 67 GS, 19.2 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 2.3 APG, 49.3 FG%, 81.0 FT%
1989-90: 45 GP, 45 GS, 14.7 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 1.8 APG, 47.7 FG%, 78.7 FT%
1990-91: 10 GP, 0 GS, 5.7 PPG, 1.3 RPG, 0.9 APG, 38.0 FG%, 69.2 FT%